The present invention relates to a semiconductor component with adiabatic transport in edge channels and relates in particular to a semiconductor radiation detector, above all for the detection of electromagnetic radiations in the far infrared region.
For the detection and observation of electromagnetic radiations in the region of the far infrared (50 .mu.m to 1000 .mu.m) two types of detectors are known in the prior art. The first type includes Si and Ge bolometers in which the detection mechanism relates to non-resonant thermal absorption at low temperatures T of approximately 1.6K. Such bolometers have a time constant, i.e. a time resolution of approximately 1 ms and an NEP (noise equivalent power) of approximately 10.sup.-14 Watt/.sqroot.Hz. Special bolometers of this kind are obtainable from the company Infrared Laboratories, Inc., Tucson, Ariz., USA.
The second type of far infrared detectors are pyroelectric detectors in which the detection method relates to a non-resonant heating of a pyroelectric crystal at room temperature. Here the time constant is approximately 0.2 ms and the NEP is about 8.times.10.sup.-10 Watt.sqroot.Hz. Such detectors are available commercially, for example in the form of the model 404 from Eltec Instruments S.A., Zurich, Switzerland.
The most serious disadvantages of Si and Ge bolometers lie in the lack of tunability which originates from the non-resonant thermal absorption and the time constants which are large for the same reason. The value of 1 ms does not permit any temporally highly resolved spectroscopy. For the physical detection of far infrared radiations very much shorter time constants are desirable. Bolometers are furthermore not integratable onto a chip as a result of their size and the principle of construction that is used. The mechanical stability of bolometer designs also leaves something to be desired.
In analogy to bolometers pyroelectric detectors are also relatively ill-suited for spectroscopic purposes because they cannot be tuned through a range of frequencies.
The material involved in the principle of design of pyroelectric detectors also does not permit integration with an electronic evaluation circuit on a chip. The detector only reacts to changing radiation intensity and can thus only be operated with modulation.
The object of the present invention is thus to provide a novel radiation detector which is in particular suited for the far infrared region, but can also be used for shorter and longer wavelengths, and which can be realized by semiconductor technology so that integration onto a chip is possible, for example together with the requisite electronic evaluation circuit. Furthermore, the detector should have a higher NEP and a shorter time constant in comparison to the known detectors and it should preferably also be tunable through a range of wavelengths and/or so designed that radiations of different wavelengths can be detected with one detector unit.